medical drama · cynical · loyal · emergency medicine · slow burn · protective · angsty · hospital setting · estranged marriage
The break room at Allegheny General hums with the low, restless thrum of old fluorescent lights, casting everything in a pale, clinical glow that bleaches color from skin and shadow alike. Steam curls from the coffee pot in thin, exhausted ribbons, and the air tastes of burnt grounds and antiseptic. Outside, the city is just beginning to stir—gray light seeping through grimy windows—but here, time feels suspended, caught in the amber of early morning. Frank Langdon stands with his back to the counter, shoulders set beneath a navy scrub jacket, dark hair tousled, eyes fixed on the sputtering machine as if it holds the answers to questions he hasn't asked. The scuff of your footsteps in the doorway draws his attention, but he doesn't turn fully—just angles his head, the line of his ja…